IFS Study finds implications for admisions policies

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hermanmunster
Posts: 12816
Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 9:51 am
Location: The Seaside

Re: IFS Study finds implications for admisions policies

Post by hermanmunster »

Height varies less in one child over the course of a year then between two children in the same class...... there will always be tallies and shorties - its in the genes. Age within a year has really little to do with it.
mystery
Posts: 8927
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Re: IFS Study finds implications for admisions policies

Post by mystery »

Yes, that shows up in my children's classes, even though they are only small samples of the population.

Going back a bit, Marylou said her child went straight into year 1 ahead of the others. I can believe that, as certainly these days the Early Years Foundation Stage, as interpreted by some schools, puts hardly any emphasis into reading, writing, or numbers. I found it a struggle once my DD2 started in reception to stop her going "backwards" in a lot of respects. Early Years specialists will tell me that hopefully there were other things she learned at school which will long-term pay off, but I don't know what they are yet! She is however very good at playing with friends for very long periods of time .............. but she always was. Anyhow, it saved me having to invited hoards of children round to the house everyday. Sounding like Magwich now. Love your posts.
penguin
Posts: 264
Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2011 3:49 pm

Re: IFS Study finds implications for admisions policies

Post by penguin »

All three of my children are summer born. The first two were surprises, third (boy) was planned.

Personally, I was always of the opinion (based solely on the academic abilities of my summer-born elder sister and the older brother of a friend) that within the first few years of primary school, these younger children catch up quite quickly with their peers and then are on a par with them. Why, after all, would there be such strong advocates of vertical tutoring or mixed age group teaching if that was not the case?

My sister was consistently top of her class and was able to take on another GCSE (purely her choice) at school in addition to her actual lessons.
the older brother was done and dusted with his Maths degree and in his lucrative graduate job before he turned 21.

so my opinion hasn't been formed as a parent but as a November-born child who was always one of the top (at art and academic stuff) at primary and into secondary and I recognise that I was sometimes bored by the pace and depth of what we were being taught.

My eldest daughter is one of the top students in her class - also tallest girl (size has been discussed in this thread as well - I was tallest child at my primary school). I would say that when she was younger she was emotionally less mature than her older female peers - but now they are all as silly as each other (bless)

younger daughter seems to be following this model as well but seems more considered in her approach to things and wants them how she's planned.

the boy child seems bright but is only three and a bit - really rather good at jigsaws and singing songs incorrectly (California girls, daisy doooks Zucchinis on top) - and is best at ordering the rest of us around.
XCRGSMUM
Posts: 46
Joined: Fri Feb 04, 2011 10:46 pm

Re: IFS Study finds implications for admisions policies

Post by XCRGSMUM »

There is a huge variation in children's development of which being summer born is only one factor. My eldest, born early September, had only 1 term in reception (at a school where neither he nor I knew anyone at all) before he, and 3 other Sept born children were put up in to yr 1, effectively making them the youngest in the year. (To make room for a particularly large intake into reception) They remained with the older yr group throughout most of primary school. 3 of the 4 eventually went to Grammar school and none suffered in the slightest from any confidence issues they were more than capable of holding their own intellectually, socially and physically even though my son and one of the girls were very small for the ages. We considered allowing him to take the 11plus early but the both grammar school and his primary were not keen.

For my son being with children older than him pulled him on, challenged him and helped him. I was once told by one of our local comprehensives that having very bright children in a class pulled the standard of the whole class up and benefited the less bright (in my humble opinion to the detriment of the bright child but thats another issue :) ) so if that's the case surely younger ones in a year group benefit from the maturity and capabilities of the older ones as my eldest son did!
P's mum
Posts: 108
Joined: Thu Mar 06, 2008 10:56 am

Re: IFS Study finds implications for admisions policies

Post by P's mum »

I don't think that its the amount of time in primary school that's the critical issue (though you would need a study that carefully controls not only for age but also the amount of time spent at nursery/reception/school to be sure). I think that social maturity is probably more of an issue. If this is the case it would be consistent with the fact that children in countries that start school much later than in the UK do just as well (or better). Issues of social maturity would also make sense when you consider that it seems to be summer born boys that suffer more. At 4/5 the 5 year old is 20% more mature than a 4 year old (I know that this is only an average). Other things being equal you would expect the disadvantage of the summer born to diminish over time as the gap gets relatively smaller. The evidence, however, seems to be that (on average - not necessarily for a specific individual) this effect is less than might be assumed.

It would be interesting to know what the outcomes are in systems where there is nore flexibilty over starting age. Personally I think that much of the difficulty occurs because socially immature summer born children are expected to cope in a formal education setting (in the UK) far too young. They are set up to fail - especially boys. My daughter was summer born and (by choice) did not do a full year in reception. In the middle of year 3 we moved to Switerland where the starting age is both much later and there is more flexibility about age groups. She went into year 2 (though if they had been as rigid as the UK she would have been in year 1). We returned to England at the end of year 5, she went straight into year 7. It has worked for us. I think that she benefited socially and never seems to have missed that whole year of primary education.
P's mum
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